A Pedestrian, a Cyclist, a Minimum Policy: The Limits Math

Most talk about minimum coverage pictures two cars and a dented bumper. The scenario that tests the injury limits hardest has no second car at all: a person on foot, on a bicycle or on a scooter, with nothing between them and the vehicle. Here is how a 30/60/15 policy handles it, using only the limits in the statute.

Which part of the policy responds

Bodily injury liability, the first two numbers. Vehicle Code 16430 sets the California minimum at $30,000 for injury or death of any one person and $60,000 for two or more people in one accident. The third number, $15,000, covers property of others, which here might be the bicycle, a phone or a helmet.

Three parts of your own policy do not help the injured person: collision (it covers your car), medical payments (it covers people in your car, under its own terms), and uninsured motorist coverage (it protects you when someone else is at fault).

Worked example 1: one person hurt

The figures are illustrative, not a prediction. The point is structural: the policy's share stops at $30,000 for that person however large the claim becomes.

Worked example 2: two people in a crosswalk

Suppose a parent and a child are both hurt, and each claim is valued at $50,000. Each is capped at $30,000, so together they reach $60,000, exactly the per-accident limit. The policy is now exhausted for injuries in that accident, and everything above those capped amounts is a claim against you. A third injured person in the same accident would find nothing left in the injury pool.

What an injury claim can include

People budget for hospital bills and forget the rest. California's Civil Code describes economic damages as objectively verifiable monetary losses, including medical expenses, loss of earnings, the cost of substitute domestic services and lost employment opportunities. It describes non-economic damages as subjective losses, including pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress and loss of companionship. A claim against you can draw on both lists, which is why a modest medical bill does not mean a modest claim.

Myth and fact

Myth: "Pedestrians and cyclists have their own health insurance, so my policy will barely be touched."
Fact: Health coverage pays its own member's medical care under its own rules. The claim against you is for the person's losses as a whole, including the non-medical ones, and your policy's share of that is capped at your limit.

Myth: "It was low speed, so it cannot be serious."
Fact: Speed changes the odds, not the ceiling. The limit is the same at any speed.

Why this is where the injury limits get tested

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that pedestrians and bicyclists struck by larger vehicles, such as SUVs and pickups, are more likely to be injured or killed than those struck by cars. Your limit does not change with the size of what you drive, so the bigger the vehicle, the more weight sits on the same $30,000 per person.

Two other features make these claims different from a bumper-to-bumper crash. There is rarely a second insurer whose own coverage absorbs part of the loss first, and the property side is usually small, so nearly the whole claim lands on the bodily injury limits.

What changes the outcome

• Higher bodily injury limits. Moving from 30/60 to a higher pair raises the ceiling in both worked examples above, and the step up often costs less than people expect.
• An umbrella policy, which generally requires higher underlying auto limits before it can be bought.
• Prompt reporting to your insurer. Its defense of the claim matters as much as its payment.

The practical response to this page is not fear; it is a number. Ask us to price higher bodily injury limits here next to your current 30/60, and decide with both figures in front of you.